Why The Maple Leafs Called Up Artur Akhtyamov Again For Upcoming Back-To-Back

The Toronto Maple Leafs will be going through their second back-to-back situation of the season this weekend. With both games at home, the Maple Leafs will be taking on the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday and, on Hockey Hall of Fame night on Sunday, the debut of their Hometown Remix jerseys, the New Jersey Devils.

Their first back-to-back came against the San Jose Sharks at home on Oct. 19, followed by a road game against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Oct. 20. What was special about that back-to-back was that the team called up goaltender Artur Akhtyamov from the Toronto Marlies in the AHL and carried three goalies.

The Maple Leafs are trying out that scenario once again this weekend, as they called up the 25-year-old Russian netminder. Akhtyamov will back up for Sergei Bobrovsky on Saturday and Anthony Stolarz on Sunday.

The benefit of this decision is to give the starting goalie a rest day on the night they don't play. In the first instance of this scenario, Bobrovsky didn't have to travel to Columbus, which allows him to take advantage of some rest, especially as a 38-year-old veteran.

Maple Leafs head coach Jim Hiller was asked what he liked about the way they managed their goaltenders in the first back-to-back instance of this regular season.

"I don't know. It's hard to know if it's measurable on a one-off, and it's probably hard to measure in any case," Hiller said after Saturday's optional morning skate. "It just seems to make sense to prioritize rest. And we have a very capable goalie in (Akhtyamov), so for our organization right now, it works."

Toronto ended up winning both games against San Jose and Columbus, and kick-started a four-game winning streak, the longest of this season so far. With that, both goaltenders played very well, with Bobrovsky earning a .968 save percentage (his best performance of the year) and Stolarz registering a .947 SP (his second-best performance of the year).

Akhtyamov has yet to feature for the Maple Leafs this season, but he's coming off his best performance of the year in the American League. On Friday against the Manitoba Moose, he made 24 saves on 26 shots, earning a .923 SP. This year, he's posted a 2.97 goals-against average and an .876 SP.

See more of The Hockey News on Google — Save us as Preferred Source

For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.